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2004
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Benitec Acquires Patent for Fast-Tracking Drug Development

7 January, 2003

Benitec (ASX:BLT), the leader in gene silencing technology, announced today that it has acquired an important new patent which will increase the commercial use of the Company's core technology. It will enable customers to fast-track the discovery and validation of drug targets and drugs. This addresses the biggest problem for the biopharmaceutical industry, reducing the bottlenecks and speeding the development process. This technology offers customers major savings in both time and cost in their present drug development pipeline.

The patent inventor, Dr Tim Holton, is a highly regarded scientist who works with Benitec's partner, the Queensland Government's Department of Primary Industries.

Dr Holton's invention brings speed and simplicity to Benitec's powerful platform technology for gene silencing. Importantly, it opens new commercial markets for high throughput identification of drug targets and increases precision in the development of therapies for silencing rogue genes.

This acquisition is part of the Company's strategy of identifying and securing complementary IP and technology to provide customers with practical tools and products to deliver Benitec's unique technology.

Technical background
The invention provides a one-step preparation of Benitec's gene silencing constructs, which are used to trigger RNA interference (RNAi) in target cells. This not only reduces the time and error margin in preparing constructs for known genes, but it allows the preparation of gene silencing 'libraries' from every gene expressed in any cell, even when those genes are 'anonymous'. Unknown genes can be identified with certainty by the loss of function that results from their being silenced, providing a large-scale approach to functional genomics for any organism.

Comments
Professor Ken Reed, Director of Research and Technology at Benitec, commented, "Like many good inventions, Dr Holton's has an elegant simplicity underpinned by world-class science. His innovation complements Benitec's core IP beautifully, and is itself a platform capable of extensive development for functional genomics across the range of humans, animals, plants and pathogens."

John McKinley, Benitec's CEO, stated, "The pharmaceutical industry has responded favorably to the possibility of implementing Benitec's RNAi technology on a large scale. Competing approaches to harnessing the power of RNAi are not capable of high throughput scale-up, one of the reasons for the rather muted industry reception for those approaches. Industry is positive about the many advantages afforded by Benitec's DNA-based approach and this invention justifies their view. It is fair to say that Dr Holton's world-leading innovation marks the birth of the Company's gene silencing technology, and indeed RNAi, as a major industrial platform."

Dr Holton will continue to use his invention to discover the functions of unknown genes in plants on a scale that was not previously possible. It is anticipated that this will lead to valuable discoveries in the search for increased plant productivity, enhanced quality and pest resistance.

About Benitec Limited
Benitec, based in Queensland Australia, has key Intellectual Property in the field of gene silencing using DNA to trigger RNA Interference. The Company was the first to demonstrate RNA Interference, a gene silencing mechanism, in mammalian and human cells; a natural mechanism now recognized worldwide as the simplest and most precise method for silencing genes. The technology is immediately applicable to and promises to revolutionize the field of functional genomics - the determination of gene function. Benitec's technology can also be applied to the treatment of major human diseases such as cancers, autoimmune disorders and viral infections through the shutting down of disease causative genes. Other applications include plant improvement and the breeding of viral resistant livestock. Benitec offers customers licences to undertake research and development on its expanding technology platform and tools to deliver the technology's capability.

This press release contains forward-looking statements which reflect the Company's current expectation regarding future events. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties. Actual events could differ materially from those projected herein and depend on a number of factors including the success of the Company's research strategy, the applicability of the discoveries made therein, the successful and timely completion of clinical studies and the uncertainties related to the regulatory process.

Contacts
John McKinley
Chairman and CEO
Phone +61 7 3217 8540 or +44 7767 367 193

Prof. Ken Reed
Director Research and Technology
Phone +61 7 3217 8540 or +61 7 407 250 245

Dr James Anderson
Managing Director
Phone +61 7 3217 8540 or +61 404 804 599